USE OF THE LAND

Evening Star, Issue 21881, 19 November 1934, Page 13

USE OF THE LAND

RESULTS GF ANNUAL REVIEW 4,000 MORE DAIRY HOLDINGS DROP IN MIXED FARMING [From Ouh Cokrespondbnt.] WELLINGTON, November 19. A careful review by the Department of Agriculture and the Government Statistician of the methods of utilising ihe land in New Zealand is made annually by means of a postal ' and personal canvass system, in which the police co-operate. The results for last year show a very definite maintenance of the movement for increased dairy production, while the general farming holdings of many classes show; a decline.

It is perhaps surprising to find that the leasehold tenure is still more extensive than freeholds, the latter comprising 20,176,163 acres, while the leasehold totals 22,466,845 acres, by far the greater bulk being Crown leases, the leaseholds held from private individuals including Maoris comprising about three million acres. The number and purposes of the holdings which cover.over forty-two million acres of the country are as follow.— Dairy farms 42,579

Sheep and cattle grazing ... 14,498 Dairying and grazing 6,836 Mixed agrio. and grazing ... 4,950 General mixed farms 3,336 Orchards ... ... 1,441 Market gardens ... ... 970 Poultry farms 250 The remaining items are of small number, and with 3,000 holdings not used for agricultural purposes bring the total to 84,368, which is an increase of 588 on those of the previous year.

Comparing these figures with the previous year’s details, it is found that dairy farmS have increased by 4,034, and constitute the only item showing expansion. Decreases are shown in sheep and cattle grazing farms, 233; mixed agricultural and grazing farms, 290; mixed dairying and grazing, 505; and general mixed farms, 652. When the nature of the utilisation of areas is examined there is further corroboration for the belief that grass is becoming more and more dominant. The total area of field crops returned was 1,200.151 acres, a decline of 72,382 acres, but on the other hand the areas sown in pasture (excluding the four-

teen million acres of tussock or other native grasses) stand at 17,336,490 acres, an increase for the year of 216,029 acres. A sidelight on the meat restriction negotiations now proceeding is provided by the evidence in this census that so far as pigs are concerned—and the pork export is one of the most troublesome chases of the British proposals—Auckland and North Auckland districts are carrying more than onehalf of the pigs. The dominion total is 660,393, while the total.in these districts amounts to 340,700.